Cuba: Life in the slow lane

Cuba’s Communist bubble could be about to burst, so now might be the best time to visit the Caribbean island stuck firmly in the past.

Havana, Cuba: Sample life in the slow lane (AWL)

We were approached by a lady with more fingers than teeth. ‘Señor, you like lobster?’ she whispered, checking around for the secret police – in Cuba it’s illegal to serve langosta in private homes.

Within seconds she’d given us an address and a time, and scuttled back to her husband, who was tinkering under the bonnet of a 1950s Chevy. Shortly she returned: ‘I’m sorry!’ she near-sobbed; we assumed the deal was off.

‘There’s no rice, only potatoes!’ That evening we ate lobster and drank rum in their backstreet home, while listening to her son play the guitar.

‘You don’t go to Cuba for its cuisine,’ confesses Rafe Stone of tour operator Journey Latin America after recounting his covert-crustacean tale, ‘but who knows? It could be the most memorable experience you ever have.’

Open-house hospitality, vintage cars, music forever in the air – Cuba is an island apart, kissed by the same sultry breeze as the rest of the Caribbean but utterly unlike it; only 150km from the US but a million miles away ideologically.

In geographical size it’s a relative tiddler – only 1,200km long. But in popular culture – from the Che Guevara T-shirts to the Buena Vista Social Club CDs – it’s a giant.

Musicians entertain passers-by in Havana (Corbis)

Since the 1959 Revolution the country has remained in a Communist bubble, where time seems to stand still. Since 2008, when leader Fidel Castro ’s ill health prompted his abdication in favour of brother Raúl, changes have begun to creep in: for instance, locals may now enter tourist hotels and own mobile. But what’s next? Fidel is 84, Raúl 79. When they die, will the country’s emotional connection to the Revolution go with them?

The Obama administration looks set to overturn restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba – possibly bringing an influx of tourists and money – so life will change, and soon.

Simply, now is the time to go before the end of an era. In more immediate terms, as the region’s hurricane season blows itself out by November, this is a fine place to escape the British winter.

It might offer a rather different experience to the rest of the Caribbean butCuba still boasts the trademark white-sand-turquoise-sea idyll: try laid-back Cayo Levisa out west; the huge dunes of Playa Pilar further east; or Playa Santa María, for sun fun near the capital.

The pure sea and sand of Playa Pilar (Alamy)

Yes, the capital: Havana. A crumbling, hypnotic city, lapped by the Gulf of Mexico, infused with cigar smoke and thrumming to the sounds of salsa, son, rumba and reggaeton.

While a stroll around Habana Vieja – the old colonial centre – and down the waterfront Malécon are a must, it’s in the bars and the dancehalls thatyou’ll really feel its rhythm.

‘There are 37,000 professional musicians in Havana. Music is the lifeblood of Cuba,’ explains Dan Hipgrave of Original Music Travel . His top city picks?

‘The Copa Room at the Riviera Hotel on a Friday – the place to practise your salsa moves. And Diablo Tun Tun, where the night owls wind up till 5am.’

Better still, guides can introduce you to some of the old Cantineros, the surviving top barmen of the 1920s to 1950s who remember the days ofEarnest Hemingway, Al Capone and Frank Sinatra, and will reminisce about the good times over a rum or two.

Chewing the fat on the balcony of an old Havana building (Corbis)

For more revolutionary reminiscences, head east. It was in the Oriente region that a young Fidel Castro was raised; his childhood home, Finca Las Manacas near Birán, is now a museum.

Next, delve into the Sierra Maestra Mountains, where Fidel and his guerillas hid out in the 1950s. It’s also where they built Comandancia de la Plata – rebel HQ, from which the revolution was orchestrated; it’s now open to those who make the effort to reach this purposefully hard-to-access eyrie.

Supporters in Santiago de Cuba, the spirited city abutting this wild hinterland, kept the guerillas supplied and it was from the balcony of the main square’s Ayuntamiento building that Fidel made his 1959 victory speech.

Today Santiago is the place to watch African-influenced folklórico dance(head to the Teatro Galaxia) or sign up for music lessons .

Once you’ve come this far south – having already wheezed your vintage Buick past the fancy French styling of Cienfuegos, the colonial charm of Trinidad, the hiking trails of the Escambray Mountains and the coral reefs off Playa Santa Lucía – you might as well keep going to Baracoa, seemingly the end of the Earth.

The road only made it here in 1964; as such it has developed alone, a hot-and-humid outpost of crumbling architecture and singular culture surrounded by a lush and mountainous biosphere reserve. A hike through cocoa and coconut groves to the top of El Yunque will give you the best perspective.

Cuba is a country in transition. What happens next, no one quite knows. A continuation of Communism? An internal power struggle? A whole new ideology? Whatever the future holds, now’s the time to get there: chances are you’ll never see anything quite like it again.

Best bits1. Best historic bar: La Floridita, Havana

A favourite of Hemingway, who famously came here to drink the daiquiris.

2. Best beach: Cayo las Brujas

A five-hour drive north-east of Havana, this is a picture-perfect strip of creamy white sand and warm turquoise seas.

3. Best sunset: Cayo Levisa

An unspoilt islet off the northwest coast, it’s the place to relax with a mojito while watching the sky turn from red to purple.

4. Best ice cream: Coppelia Ice Cream, Havana

Famous for more than 50 years, this spot on Calle 23 serves the best ice cream in Cuba, if not the Caribbean.

5. Best cigar shopping: Viñales Valley

Avoid buying off street sellers; instead head to Viñales, where the world’s best dark tobacco is processed into its finest cigars.

6. Best deep-sea fishing: Tarara Marina

Take a boat out from Tarara (east of Havana) or hire the boat at La Terraza restaurant in Cojimar for great game fishing.

7. Best monument: Ché’s Mausoleum, Santa Clara

Most Cubans are atheists but they approach this striking landmark with the same reverence as entering a church.